Sonia Guajajara: ‘We’re not just occupying a ministry; we’re occupying politics’

The creation of Brazil’s first Ministry of Indigenous Peoples in 2023 marked the beginning of a historic process of redress. It demonstrated that Indigenous peoples strengthen not only their own agendas by occupying positions of power, but democracy as a whole. 

Becoming the ministry’s first head meant being part of a moment of change in Brazil – the result of a long-standing demand for representation. We did not merely occupy a ministry; we occupied the political arena.

When we took over the portfolio, we found Indigenous policy in tatters. There were understaffed agencies, a slashed budget, the demarcation of Indigenous lands at a standstill, and territories dominated by illegal mining, land grabbing and violence.

Why Sonia Guajajara? As Brazil’s inaugural minister of Indigenous peoples, Guajajara was tasked with confronting decades of dismantled protections, illegal mining, and stalled land demarcations. Her path – from grassroots Indigenous organising to the Chamber of Deputies to a cabinet post – places her perfectly to tell us what it takes to make Indigenous representation permanent, irreversible state policy rather than the prerogative of whichever government is in office.

This policy had to be rebuilt amidst humanitarian emergencies, such as the illegal gold mining in the Yanomami Indigenous territory, where we found a complete breakdown of the system, with deaths from malnutrition and other serious health problems leading to the declaration of a public health emergency in January 2023. We removed 98% of the gold miners from the territory, brought more healthcare professionals to the region and established permanent monitoring.

There is still much to be done, and this is but one example, but it is an ongoing endeavour.

Despite the progress made, my journey from the Indigenous movement to the Chamber of Deputies and to the country’s first Ministry of Indigenous Peoples has taught me that occupying spaces is essential, but it is not enough. We need to transform Indigenous presence into state policy. No achievement will be fully protected if it depends exclusively on the will of a government.

Brazil has around 1.7 million Indigenous people, belonging to 391 peoples and speaking approximately 295 languages. Even with this diversity, only 0.5% of the federal executive’s active civil servants self-identify as Indigenous. Within the ministry, approximately one-fifth of posts are now held by Indigenous people. It is a victory, but we are still a long way from where we need to be.

The ministry must continue to function as a strategic body, with a budget commensurate with its responsibilities, the capacity for coordination, and effective participation in decisions regarding climate, infrastructure, mining, energy, education, health and development. However, Indigenous policy cannot be confined to a single ministry. Every ministry whose measures may affect our territories must maintain permanent forums for Indigenous participation.

Looking to the future, I hope for a relationship based on definitively overcoming paternalism. For centuries, the state has treated Indigenous peoples as obstacles to development or as people incapable of deciding their own future. We need to consolidate a different model: a relationship between the Brazilian state and peoples who possess autonomy, social organisation, languages, cultures and their own life projects.

This requires respect for the free, prior and informed consultation provided for in Convention 169 of the International Labour Organisation, which guarantees Indigenous peoples the right to be heard before decisions affecting their territories are taken.

Consultation must not be treated as a symbolic meeting or as a bureaucratic formality carried out once the decision has already been taken. It must take place before any policy, project or undertaking is finalised, in accessible language, on the communities’ own terms, and with a genuine opportunity to influence or prevent decisions.

We also need to strengthen Indigenous forms of territorial management, specific school education, tailored healthcare, justice, sustainable production and climate adaptation. The future I envisage combines strong national institutions with territorial autonomy, participation and respect for the diversity of peoples.

We do not simply want to be consulted by the state; we want to play a part in its transformation.

Territory is a central issue

Our priority for the next two decades will continue to be the demarcation of Indigenous territories. Because without territory there is no language, culture, spirituality, food security or future.

During our time in office at the ministry, we made significant progress. We officially recognised 20 Indigenous lands – the final stage of the demarcation process – and signed a further 21 declaratory decrees, a step that precedes official recognition. Together, these figures amount to almost 20 years’ worth of demarcations achieved in just three. However, the historical debt remains enormous.

It is possible to reach 2046 with this issue much closer to a solution, but only if there is a government commitment to complete the demarcations, ensure compensation where applicable, and prevent each process from being paralysed by political pressure or legal disputes.

And demarcation is not merely a matter of signing a decree. We need to guarantee permanent protection, remove squatters, restore degraded areas and support territorial and environmental management plans. Recent experience has shown that temporary operations are not enough. When the state withdraws, gold panners, loggers and land grabbers return.

Today, extreme weather events are already affecting our territories, bringing droughts, floods, fires and changes to the cycles of the forest and rivers. Meanwhile, only 3% of the deforestation recorded between 2012 and 2024 in the Brazilian Amazon – which is essential for the global climate balance – occurred within these territories. This shows that protecting Indigenous lands is one of the country’s most effective climate policies.

In the coming decades, health, education, sanitation, the protection of environmental defenders, the promotion of Indigenous languages, connectivity, food security and adaptation to climate change will also need to be at the heart of the agenda.

The contest in Congress

Back in my seat as a federal MP – a role from which I had taken a leave of absence whilst heading the ministry – and preparing to stand for re-election in October, I find a very unequal balance of power between Indigenous peoples and ruralist groups in the legislature. The demarcation of Indigenous lands and environmental protection are the subject of an increasingly fierce dispute, driven by exploitation interests and attempts to deny our rights. This requires us to work closely with the more progressive parliamentary groups. As we are in the minority, we must join forces in every battle.

In 2022, five self-identified Indigenous people were elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the first time in history, myself included. It was an unprecedented milestone, but five out of 513 deputies is still a tiny fraction compared to our representation within the Brazilian population.

This year, the Indigenous movement has put forward dozens of prospective candidates, and we are excited about electing and re-electing Indigenous people in the general elections. The Aldear a Política’ [Village-based Politics] project, which we have built from within the Indigenous movement, demonstrates that a candidacy is never an individual endeavour: it embodies a collective struggle and paves the way for many others.

Over the next two decades, I hope to see a genuine Indigenous parliamentary group in the National Congress, as well as Indigenous people in legislative assemblies, local councils, town halls, state governments, courts, universities and public bodies. To achieve this, we need to ‘indigenise’ the three branches of government and build a political culture in which no decision concerning Indigenous peoples is taken without the presence of representatives of those peoples.

Congress has a packed agenda of issues that affect us. For example, Constitutional Amendment Proposal 48 (PEC 48) is currently being considered. This would amend the Constitution to include the ‘Temporal Framework’ clause – the argument that Indigenous peoples are only entitled to the lands they physically occupied on the date the Constitution was promulgated, in 1988. In practice, this ignores the forced displacements that many peoples have suffered throughout history, whilst also potentially halting new land demarcations and reversing the recognition of territories that have already been officially recognised. Putting a definitive stop to this argument will remain our challenge.

We are also closely watching the implementation of the new National Policy on Critical and Strategic Minerals, signed into law this month, and the risk that the race for these resources will increase pressure on our territories. The same applies to mining within Indigenous lands. In February, the Federal Supreme Court gave Congress a two-year deadline to regulate the activity, and the Senate set up a working group to draft a bill on the subject. For us, prior consultation must mean genuine decision-making power, including the right to say no to projects that are incompatible with life and the integrity of the territories.

The energy transition will be one of the greatest sources of conflict over the next two decades. We cannot accept that the phase-out of fossil fuels should lead to a new colonial scramble for lithium, nickel, copper, rare earths and other critical minerals. There can be no just transition when the benefits go to companies and urban centres, whilst the impacts fall on Indigenous peoples and traditional communities.

The way to reduce these conflicts lies in changing the very concept of development itself, which includes protecting areas of high socio-environmental importance and recognising Indigenous peoples as political actors, not as obstacles.

In 20 years’ time, I hope that Brazil will finally understand that our territories are not reserves of resources waiting to be exploited. They are territories of life, knowledge, biodiversity and climate balance. Preserving them is not merely in the interests of Indigenous peoples; it is essential for the future of the whole country.